How many people actually want fully on-site IT jobs?
I've been looking for a new job as a software developer. The huge majority of job listings I see in my area are hybrid or remote. I just had an introductory phone call with Vizio (which didn't specify the location type in the job listing). The recruiter told me that the job was fully on-site, which I told her was a deal breaker for me.
It makes me wonder how many other people back out after hearing that the job is on-site. And it makes me wonder why this wasn't specified in the job description. I assume most people only want hybrid or remote jobs these days, right?
Anyways I was just wondering how many of you guys apply for on-site IT jobs? Hybrid is so much better, I don't know why people would apply for on-site jobs unless they have no other options.
It makes me wonder how many other people back out after hearing that the job is on-site. And it makes me wonder why this wasn't specified in the job description
They're trying not to get filtered by having it listed as on site up front, and banking on people saying "well, I'm already foot in the door i guess i could settle" once the interview process starts.
Which is already a red flag right there. Too bad there are no real consequences for their attempting to lie & cheat their way towards finding someone willing to put up with their BS, and at this point I don't mean the on-site factor that is perhaps a legit need that they may have. It's just how capitalism works, except that they'd really rather it work for rather than against them...:-(
Same here. There is no reason to make me far less productive other than I'm pretty and people want to gaze at me adoringly in an office setting. It's a weird fetish I guess, but I've seen weirder.
I'd consider one, but it'd have to pay considerably more. Like, 50% or more above what I'd otherwise expect for a fully remote position, and it would have to be an easy commute.
In most cases it's adding 20-30% to the length of the work day when the commute is included, plus costs of transportation itself. Plus the general inconvenience and the fact that it's almost always going to mean a more toxic culture. But if the pay and benefits were absolutely fantastic, I'd consider it, at least short-term.
Another user was demanding 4x salary for in office, I would consider a 20% pay bump per in office day a reasonable request that likely results in a remote contract. It's essentially saying it will cost you double to make me come in for that day.
From what I've heard, most people that are for in office work like having the separation between work and home.
That being said, I think most folks want remote work or at least remote hybrid. It just makes more sense especially for me. I live far from my office (140 mile drive roundtrip), and working 3 days a week from home has been a god send.
I did notice that the only people not opting for WFH/hybrid at my last job were all the married-with-kids types who hated being around their family and used work as an escape. It was really sad to see lol
There’s a psychological stress with work that can take some time to slough off.
Some people don’t want to log out of work and be grumpy or distracted during family time.
That being said having a process or system as a habit to denote work/home is a good alternative.
A 10 minute walk, a change of clothes, or some song you play, anything that creates a mental delineation. So the annoyance from that way too long meeting asking why something isn’t done (4 hours a day giving out status updates isn’t helping) doesn’t come out on the family.
That's understandable but like... you could go to a coffee shop or literally rent office space nearby to where you live - it doesn't have to be all one way or the other. Anyway, if they truly do enjoy being surrounded by people then I don't want to knock their totally valid preferences, just to say that there are other ways.
Not wanting to work in a crowded home has nothing to do with disliking your family. Kids are loud. They run around the house. They watch TV with the volume set too high. They have excited calls with their friends. Many home builders skimp on noise insulation for interior walls.
My brain definitely focuses better with environmental cues. I mean, I can work just about anywhere, but if I'm not in the mood, then having the environmental cues displaces alternatives. Subjectively, I feel more productive at work. Never had a really bad commute, so I was never motivated to try to set up a 'work-only' space at home, but I'd only do a 70 mile one-way drive for very special occasions.
I might get down voted, but even for software dev, not all jobs can be done remotely. Software may need to interact with hardware, which requires to be on site. I am all in for hybrid or remote work, but totally see why some jobs require to be "on site"
I am an embedded developer, I take the HW from office to bring at home, in the basement I have my "home office" with benches, soldering station, oscilloscope, etc so I can fully develop here. Working on a kitchen corner table would not be doable, true
While definitely true, then it still shouldn't be required to come in at all times. Hopefully, you can automate tests to the point where you do not need to physically interact with real hardware every day. And then it should be up to you, whether you want to come in or not.
We had an IT person quit this year because we transitioned to fully remote after they closed down the office in December 2020. He couldn't handle working from home.
It's not necessarily that they dislike the people, either. It could be an issue if the other people/animals at home aren't cooperative with your need to work, despite being lovely in normal home situations. It could be a total lack of cooperative workspace - no desk space, too cluttered, areas already dedicated to other home tasks, noisy neighbors, easy distractions, etc. And then some people are just wholly impatient, who can't identify what they need to make their home space more like their office space. Personally, I played a bunch of video games in 2020. I felt I performed better overall because blocking off an hour of game campaign kept me off my phone most of the day. Now I sit in an office again, scrolling here for more than an hour each day.
But yes, I had a number of coworkers in 2020 that came back as soon as they could in order to get away from their families again. Work was their herculean daily task that gave them an excuse to be away from families and be too tired to engage with them after work. The kind that always joked "gonna go home, hit the wife, and fuck the dog"
It's not always outright negativity, but it can be.
Personally I just like my colleagues so it's fun to be around them for the most part, and there are better lunch options around the office in my case (plus I'd never bother going somewhere when I'm home anyway). It being easier to just quickly ask a question is nice too. Also gets me actually out of the house and cycling for ~40 minutes a day. I also get way more done at work because working at the same pc I spend 90% of my free time at is not great at motivating my brain to do work.
Still, if I didn't have the option to just stay home when I don't feel like going to the office/am waiting for a package or something, I'd find that very annoying.
I work with a few who prefer the office over work from home.
I think they need a way to escape the house/wife/kids and the office is the only quiet place they have to work.
I have only ever worked on-site jobs, so I am very used to it. The main plus for me is interacting with my co-workers. You run into the occasional jerk or someone having a bad day, but usually it is a great way to learn new things and gain different perspectives.
My dad is the only human being I know that likes his on-site IT job, but that's probably because he's getting away from the miserable woman he married for a few hours a day.
I guess I'm rare in that I like working in an office. My house is for relaxing and enjoying my time, so the few times I did WFH I really just want to curl up on the couch instead of work.
Keep this in mind, some places raises will barely cover inflation.
Now factor in gas and, most importantly, time spent commuting.
All that on top of effectiveness in working with social interruptions, trips to the coffee machine, bathroom breaks, lunch, etc.
Any of these businesses that are pushing for on-site are locked into costs from renting space - guarantee it. I get wanting to do the occasional face showing or in person meetings, but they should be concise and few in number - if they’re an efficient shop. Plenty of new blood that get the value of hybrid/remote work.
I really want fully on-site jobs. If i work at home then i never get mental separation of work and life, and so i feel like i can never actually live. It happened to me with all of my schooling and honestly with the distress it causes me, I'd be better off not living at all than working at home.
I've been remote for the 3 years of work experience that I've had. I live in a city with piss poor public transportation and detest traffic, plus I enjoy waking up 10 minutes before having to clock in.
The pay and perks would have to be substantial for me to consider working on-site.
About a third of the developers in my office choose to come into the office every day because they do not have a home office setup or they prefer to have that separation between work and home.
In my team, 2 out 15 people come to the office regularly, because they prefer the separation of work from free time.
I can definitely see some benefits from being on-site. You do occasionally just run into people, who can tell you really useful things for your job. And it's definitely harder to keep track of what my wider team is working on, since we've gone mostly remote.
But those benefits just as well evaporate when "on-site" becomes two or more locations. I'm not going to run into someone who's in a different office in a different city.
If I have to actively work together with people from different locations, I will also be wearing headphones all day, not able to socialize with the people around me. That makes it rather pointless to go into the office.
And yeah, just the flexibility of being at home is really useful. I can take a break from work to load my washing machine. I can sleep until 5 minutes before my first meeting. Or I can walk to the store in the morning, when it's still cool outside.
So yeah, personally, I certainly wouldn't go back to a fully on-site job, unless it's somehow the best job in the world in other ways.
I've been fully onsite basically the whole time, including during the pandemic, for me it's been fine. Gets me out of my tiny studio apartment and keeps my work life at work. Also free A/C / heating at work.
The commute is also part of that decision making - for me the commute is a long walk outside to/from work every day. All that walking around outside sort of levels me out mentally & gets rid of any stress I had, not to mention the exercise.
I would rather not be employed. I hated everything about my in-office jobs. The clothes, the pointless small talk, the "quick sidebars" that end up being longer than a meeting but could've just been a text conversation. The only thing I miss was lunchtime banter and finding fellow nerds to infodump with.
The only argument I see in favour of office time is if your home situation doesn't allow you to focus - family, kids and so on, or if you deliberately want a physical separation and you don't have a dedicated office space at home.
It really depends on where the office is in relation to your home.
Before covid and going WFH, the office was only 5 miles away on roads with no traffic. I would go back to this, no problem. Just enough to keep you on a schedule and get out of the house.
The biggest benefit of an office is that when you leave, you are gone until tomorrow.
When everyone is WFH, you never completely leave the office. I know boundaries, but in many cases, the lines can get a bit fuzzy.
My job I'm classified as remote. And I like it that way. Recently they have decided that a bunch of people even if remote will now have to come on site at least hybrid. For "collaboration". I even noted that in my employment contract I had in there that I was to work from home, to which HR said that they really don't care.
My last year-end review was stellar. Top marks, praises from multiple departments, even got a promotion.
But I happen to live to close to a location, so there's 'simply nothing that can be done'. So I've already started looking for different work.
Software developer here, WFH since March 2020, I don't want to go back to office. If I would apply for a new job, my first question would be "is this 99% remote?" because I don't mind once a month going there from like 10 to 2 to avoid trafic jam.
I have a pretty good hybrid situation, where it’s probably good for me to get dressed and out of the house twice a week. It helps that it’s only three mile commute with no traffic. I’d probably look for that, even if I don’t like going in.
That being said, we hire across many time zones and I don’t even work with local people so I’m not sure the point. Why is my company wasting money on a local office so I can be on Zoom all day, but can’t spend the travel budget even once for me to meet the people I work with (from Boston, I generally work with people in London, Toronto, Bangalore)
I run a development department, and nobody who reports to me comes to the office. We have been 100% remote since 2020... much to the chagrin of HR. Others in IT come in, but no developers. I see no reason to change it either. I question why I even come in most days.
Without looking it up, I don't know how many people I've interviewed over the last 4 years, but there's been a few. I've only had one person who indicated he wanted to be in an office. Every other person wants fully remote. The most common comment I've heard from people is saying they will settle for hybrid if full-remote isn't available.
There's some value to having people work together in-person, but I'd rather give my teams the flexibility to choose for themselves rather than force it.
That’s weird it wasn’t in the job posting. Seems like they’re wasting their time talking to candidates that aren’t interested in on-site.
I only want remote. The company I work for was once extremely remote friendly. Like 75% of job postings from them were for remote. Now they’ve changed to hybrid or fully on-site at the word from the CEO and like only 5% of open roles are remote.
They kept me remote, but my interactions with others are much less remote friendly. I’m looking for a new job, but will have to be for a company that is mostly remote itself.
Most companies put in lights that run at 5000 kelvin. So they appear to be white or even slightly blue in color. It’s hard on the eyes.
3500 or 3000 Kelvin would be more natural light.
Plus most of them have to slow of a refresh. So I see a flicker. Think a strobe light and move your hand in front of your eyes. That shudder or screen door effect that you would see. That’s what I see when I’m around led lights.
I hope to never go back to office. Remote has been a life changer. I have time to keep weeds out of my garden. The flexibility to have workers at my house whenever they are available. The freedom to set up my desk how I like it. Time to eat breakfast. I don't get headaches every day any more from the lighting. I get to go outside during breaks for some sunshine time. I'm here when the kids come home.
My work is more focused. No more road stress. I may be able to move to a place I can tolerate. No more wearing makeup that is bad for my skin. No more having to pack a lunch. My life is infinitely better without having to commute.
The office is 3 day a week onsite, w Mon and Fri remote.
I have to be on site Tue - Thur to support the users.
I go in most Mon and Fri because it's the only time I know I have physical access to the systems.
My support work is largely "remote", in that I can manage my systems 99% of the time better from my office than in the room, and I really like my setup.
Aside from physically rebooting hardware that's too frozen to reboot remotely, or replacing defective hardware, I can work 100% from anywhere I have internet.
Thing is, I love the company I work for, the end users and various IT and facilities staff that support my work are all great people.
The only close friends I have all moved far away decades ago, so the "water cooler" is the only real social interaction I get.
I do spend a ridiculous amount to live 15 minutes from the office so the commute isn't a concern.
I wouldn’t back out automatically. It depends on the situation for me. I did a fully on-site job in the role I had right before my current and it was worth it. Now I’m in the office usually 60% of the time. It’s not for everyone, but I would not immediately shut down a job opportunity just because it’s 100% on site.
People want to be paid. Period. Anyone who tells you they won’t take a job because it’s not remote is a liar. Either that or they are privately wealthy and can afford to not work until their unicorn job appears.
When I was looking for a new job a couple years ago I turned down a lot of on-site and hybrid job for the sole reason that they weren't fully remote. Some of the jobs actually interested me and I would have loved to take at the time. And I can assure you I am far from wealthy.
Working from home I get to see my wife during the day, play with my son whenever I want, make my own lunch in my kitchen, water my garden during the day, work outside if I want to.
The peace of mind that it brings me is worth $400k. That's the minimum I would take to go into the office no more than 30 minutes away once a week at most.
I know that's unrealistic but so is making employees go into the office for something they're fully capable of doing at home.
You are just a liar bud. If nothing else you are lying to yourself.
If you were out of work and were offered an office position you would take it. The fact that you have a family makes it even more certain.
Don’t misunderstand my comment. I never said you have to like the job or even keep it. If you were out of work you would accept the position until you found a better offer. You don’t stay jobless when you have no money.
Obviously when you have a job you would pass on a job that doesn’t meet your expectations, that’s common sense. My comment was meant more towards being on the hunt while unemployed. Even still if the money was right I guarantee you would take an office job. Your wife wouldn’t let you turn it down. Money talks and people that want to pretend they are above it are lying to themselves.
There is one reason I think onsite works, and that's for relocation.
If you are from the US and you want to move to the UK, how do you intend to move via work if your work is remote?
I love remote work, but I've not heard a rebuttal for this other than "don't let foreigners move here" or "let's let people move based on their level of education".